Published: August 6, 2026
MONROVIA — Dr. Danielette Adelaide Nelson, a Liberian surgeon who served in the surgical department at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital before building a career of more than five decades in British medicine and later channeling medical supplies back to hospitals in Liberia, died June 29 at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. She was 89.
Funeral services are set for 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, at Cricklewood Baptist Church, 2 Sneyd Road, London NW2, off Anson Road. Interment will follow at Paddington Cemetery on Willesden Lane in Kilburn. The family has invited the community to attend and to take part in a memorial honoring her.
Dr. Kate Bryant, a pediatrician who knew her in the profession, said Nelson was a trailblazer for women in medicine.
“Danielette was unassuming and very diligent and exceptionally professional,” Bryant said. “Danielette felt that this is something that I want to do and I am going to do it right.”
Nelson was born Dec. 6, 1936, in Monrovia. She finished the College of West Africa in 1951 and graduated from the University of Liberia in 1955 with a bachelor of science degree. She later earned a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University, and pursued advanced study in pathology and therapeutics at the University of Maryland.
She received her doctorate in medicine, surgery and obstetrics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in October 1969.
Nelson returned to Liberia after her medical training and worked in the surgical department at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital alongside Dr. Walter Brumskine, Liberia’s first urologist, who has since died. She moved permanently to the United Kingdom in 1975.
In Britain she worked as a general surgeon in the National Health Service, including at St. Mary’s Hospital, the hospital where she died.
In 2002 she founded the Afro Health Institute in London, through which she supplied medical equipment and materials to hospitals in Liberia.
Her son, McDonald Johnson, said his mother was his greatest supporter and his source of comfort.
“She taught me the importance of faith and hard work,” he said. “Through her words and actions, she showed me the true meaning of love, kindness, and compassion. Her example continues to guide me every day.”
Nelson is survived by her son, McDonald Johnson of Maine, and her brother, Dougba Caranda of Georgia, both in the United States. Her sisters, Paulita M. Toby, Mary Tucker and Thelma Nelson, and her brothers, David Nelson and John Caranda, preceded her in death.
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